Nottwil Grand Prix: Five talking points

Take a look at the headlines from the Nottwil Grand Prix, which took place 25-27 May in Switzerland.

Two world records for Genyn

Belgium’s Peter Genyn was in blistering form in Nottwil, lowering the 100m T51 world record* for the second time in less than a month – he stopped the clock at 20.07 seconds, then knocked nearly a second off his 400m world mark on the final day with a time of 1:17.21. All that as temperatures soared to nearly 30 degrees Celsius.

Awesome Aussies

Rheed McCracken was also in record-breaking form, he took 0.12 seconds off his own world record* set last year clocking 14.80 in the 100m T34. Madison de Rozario equalled the world record in the women’s 1,500m T53/54 and won the 800m T53 and 5,000m T54 – continuing her remarkable season and underlining just why she is fast becoming the one to beat across multiple distances.

European marks fall

Home favourite Manuela Schaer smashed the 1,500m T54 European record with her time of 3:14.10; Briton Richard Chiassaro clocked 45.26 in the men’s 400m T54 – a “massive personal best” for the world bronze medallist, and his teammate Martin Pistorius set a new European record in the men’s 1,500m T33 (4:25.84).

World champions on form

Great Britain’s Hannah Cockroft notched up four wins in the T34 class, Tunisian Yassine Gharbi looked formidable as he finished fastest in the 200m T54, Canadian Brent Lakatos clocked a world lead in the men’s 800m T53, local star Marcel Hug won the men’s 1,500m T54 and Colombia’s Mauricio Valencia continued his run of Grand Prix wins with victory in the men’s T34 field events.

New stars in the making

It was not just the experienced big names dominating the podium – USA’s Daniel Romanchuk made clear he is a key contender in the men’s T54 class, while Turkish duo Hamide Kurt and Zubeyde Supurgeci clocked new world leads in the women’s 200m T53 and T54 respectively.

*subject to ratification by World Para Athletics